I am writing to you sitting here in the tour bus with Nightwish! We are heading to San Fransisco. The sun is shining bright here and the scenery is beautiful. I am trying to find words to describe how I feel but it’s impossible to really cover it. I am on a high!

What do you do when Nightwish asks you to join them on tour? Stay calm and say, well OK….? Or does your heart start beating twice as fast instantly, hands start to sweat and your mouth is unwilling to pronounce words like “that sounds amazing”. I guess I don’t need to tell what happened to me

The time to prepare was scarily short…I packed my bags and left and printed the lyrics into my head all the way over from Amsterdam to America. 15 hours of airplane later I arrived with a jetlag, a full head and the most happy feeling ever. The next day I jumped on board on this bus and the adventure truly began. I was welcomed into the group as an old friend and I felt great instantly. It is now 10 years ago I joined Nighwish on tour with After Forever as their support act. We stayed in touch ever since and that made the whole situation so much easier and smooth.

The day of the first show we also did a long soundcheck to rehearse the songs. That was the only possibility… You cannot imagine how nervous I was before that first show started!!! Next to nerves my voice was battered by a cold due to all the travels, lack of sleep and airco’s.

The intro started…..I ran on stage….and all nerves were gone! The music and the guys took me in and so did the audience. What an experience! The excitement lasted the entire show, and way after. When I went to my tour bus bed that night I still had a smile on my face. I felt so happy and satisfied I fell asleep instantly.

The next morning I woke up, ahum afternoon….in Portland. Show number 2 was there already. So were the first online reactions and the massive amount of press that responded to the news. You must be living under a stone if the news didn’t reach you yet J I even did an interview with the Dutch radio, standing outside the venue in my stage outfit. With a 9 hour time difference…

My cold got worse and the doctor had to give me some power supplies to help me. Thank goodness for that, they helped instantly and the second show was an amazing blast. The Crystal Hall in Portland is a beautiful venue and the atmosphere extraordinary! Again the audience welcomed me warmly! I am so grateful!!!

Today we’ll play in San Fransisco (see the pic)! I always wanted to see this city so I hope there is some time (and energy) left for this! I will keep writing to you. And for those who came to the show: thank you for your support!!!

Dutch singer Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER) made her glorious live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on night (Monday, October 1) at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington. Reports from fans have been resoundingly positive.

Fan-filmed video footage of the songs “Storytime” and “Amaranth” can be seen below.

Jansen is filling the role of lead vocalist in NIGHTWISH on the band’s current North American tour after the group parted ways with Anette Olzon over the weekend. NIGHTWISH stated about the sudden singer switch, “In recent times it has become increasingly obvious that the direction and the needs of the band were in conflict, and this has led to a division from which we cannot recover.”

They added, “We are all strongly committed to this journey, this vehicle of spirit, and we are sure that this will lead to a brighter future for everyone.

“We forever remain excited about the adventures to come, and we are extremely proud of the two beautiful albums and the wonderful shows we shared together.”

Olzon joined NIGHTWISH in 2007 as the replacement for Tarja Turunen after the latter was fired in 2005.

Another chapter of the Nightwish story has ended today. Nightwish and Anette Olzon have decided to part company, in mutual understanding, for the good of all parties involved.

In recent times it has become increasingly obvious that the direction and the needs of the band were in conflict, and this has led to a division from which we cannot recover.

Nightwish has no intention of cancelling any upcoming shows, and as a result we have decided to bring in a substitute vocalist starting in Seattle 1.10.2012. Her name is Floor Jansen from The Netherlands (ex-After Forever, ReVamp), and she has graciously stepped in to help us complete the Imaginaerum world tour.

We are all strongly committed to this journey, this vehicle of spirit, and we are sure that this will lead to a brighter future for everyone.

We forever remain excited about the adventures to come, and we are extremely proud of the two beautiful albums and the wonderful shows we shared together.

– Nightwish and Anette Olzon

From Anette Olzon’s blog:

Dear blog readers:With this I say farewell to you and this blog. This blog was a way for me, as the singer in NW, to keep more in touch with you NW fans. Now when this chapter has ended, there is no more need for me to do this blog and from today I close it.

I want to thank you all for being my readers for so many years, for your loving support and I wish you all a happy and healthy life! Stay kind to others and live life easy!
Lots of love,Anette Olzon (from now on just Anette Olsson;=)

Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon has commented about her flu and expressed her opinions about the two replacements who filled in for her at the Denver show HERE.

“And one more thing..

… I was never asked if it was ok they used Elise and Alica in the show last night. I don’t think it’s a good decision they made and I’m sorry for those of you who came to see the whole band but got something else. But I was very ill and this decision wasn’t mine. Tonight I’ll be on stage doing my best despite illness:-) See u in some hours!!”

Anette preformed last night in Salt LAke City despite not being in top form. She has posted about it in her blog here.

KAMELOT backing singers Elize Ryd (also of AMARANTHE) and Alissa White-Gluz (also of THE AGONIST) filled in for NIGHTWISH vocalist Anette Olzon last night (Friday, September 28) at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, Colorado after Olzon was taken ill and had to be hospitalized.

Commented NIGHTWISH: “We were in hell [yesterday]. Vocalist in a hospital. Show about to be canceled… But nobody gave up an inch. With the help from the ladies Elize and Alissa from KAMELOT, we actually managed to pull of a relaxed and great show! The crowd doing the mass karaoke with the band playing was absolutely amazing. We were humbled and grateful at the same time. This is unity and help from friends and fans. Anette is already recovering, thanks to the medical staff and whatever powers there exists. The shows will go on.

We give our greatest respect to Alissa, Elize and the crowd in Ogden Theatre, Denver. You rule!!!”

Anette posted this update on Saturday, 29 September 2012:

“My dear ones…

I am so sorry that I couldn’t be on stage yesterday in Denver:-( I got very ill the night before and first went to the ER in the morning and were there for 5 hours before they released me with some painkillers and thought it was a kidney stone. Unfortunately I got worse at 7 in the evening and started vomitting heavily and my fever rised. After talking to the hospital they said I should cancel the show and come straight back in to the ER. I was there all night and I was very dehydrated so they gave me 2 litres of fluid though an IV, they did blood tests, ultrasounds on my kidneys and finally a ct scan. These tests didn’t show why I was so ill but probably the stomach pain has a connection with me having the flu or just stress. They did find something else though and for that I’m grateful. If I didn’t do the scan I wouldn’t know there’s a big cyst in my liver and I need to go check it out ASAP at home. I do feel better today but still fever cough and a very soar throat but hopefully I can be on stage tonight, even if it means shorten the set list. Thanks for your time to read this! Enjoy this day! – Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone”

NIGHTWISH’s long-awaited “Imaginaerum” film — based on the band’s album of the same name — will be released theatrically in Finland on November 23.

The movie will have its premiere on November 10 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland, where the audience will be treated to both a full-scale NIGHTWISH concert and the first-ever public screening of the movie.

Eagerly anticipated around the world, “Imaginaerum” creates a musical fantasy world in the vein of David Lynch, Neil Gaiman, and Cirque du Soleil. The movie is an innovative mixture of story-telling and music, an extraordinary tale of the power of imagination… and what’s ultimately important in life.

Shot and post-produced in Canada, the movie was directed by Stobe Harju and produced by Solar Films, and features appearances by all NIGHTWISH members. The screenplay is based on a wild vision that Tuomas Holopainen, the mastermind of the band, devised after the album “Dark Passion Play” came out in 2007.

“I though of how we could take our expression that had already became pretty ambitious and grandiose to the next level, and that’s when I knew I wanted to tell a story, and to tell it with love and piety,” said Tuomas.

According to Holopainen, finishing the movie has been an eventful and challenging journey that has sometimes demanded superhuman dedication from the production crew.

The “Imaginaerum” screening at Hartwall Arena will be preceded by a show by the musicians NIGHTWISH themselves in what will be their last concert in Finland this year.

The official soundtrack of the movie, “Imaginaerum By Nightwish: The Score”, will be released on the day before the premiere — Friday, November 9. The album features 13 grandiose, unreleased re-interpretations of “Imaginaerum” tracks by Petri Alanko.

Several new photos from the “Imaginaerum” movie shoot can be found at this location.

“Imaginaerum” is one of the projects which received grants from the Finnish government institution called the Finnish Film Foundation. The movie, directed by Stobe Harju, about an old man on his deathbed who glimpses a childhood dream in which he refuses to grow old, and fights aging with his imagination, reportedly got $575,000 toward its $3.7 million budget.

During a September 2011 interview with Petri Silas of Finland’s Soundi magazine, NIGHTWISH mainman/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen explained that all the filming for the “Imaginaerum” movie was done in Canada with mostly Canadian actors/actresses. Post-production took place in Canada and Finland. He aso revealed the names of the actors who have two of the main roles in the film: Marianne Farley and Quinn Lord.

Speaking to Loudwire, Holopainen stated about the plot of the “Imaginaerum” film, “Basically it’s about this old guy who used to be a composer and he’s really sick; he’s lying on his death bed in a hospital and he’s going through his life, through his dreams — that’s the basic storyline. It’s all about praising life and life’s beauty, imagination and all the strife and the bad stuff we have to face.

“[The storyline] came from the director; I just had the twelve ideas, the twelve visions. He basically wrote the script and storyline around those originally visions and the only one we had to leave out was the ‘Ghost River’ part, because we didn’t have the finance to realize that vision.”

Asked if the band appears in the film at all, Tuomas said, “A little bit, we are seen in two different scenes as a band, playing in the background. That’s something that I really emphasized to the director, ‘Please don’t put the band into the movie,’ because we want to do a believable story and we have no idea how to act. We are not actors so if your give us some lines and we tried to act, it would look goofy. He insisted to put us into the movie because it’s our brainchild, so we’re just playing in there as a band; it’s a good compromise.”

“Imaginaerum” film cast:

* Francis X. McCarthy

* Quinn Lord

* Marianne Farley

* Joanna Noyes

* Ilkka Villi

* Keyanna Fielding

* Ron Lea

* Victoria Jung

* Hélène Robitaille

* Stefan Demers

* Anette Olzon

* Marco Hietala

* Tuomas Holopainen

* Emppu Vuorinen

* Jukka Nevalainen

The “Imaginaerum” album was released in the U.S. on January 10 via Roadrunner Records.

Hamburg, Germany, based label earMUSIC, the rock branch of entertainment company EDEL, is happy to announce the release of TARJA’s first ever solo live album as a rock singer. “ACT I” will hit stores August 24th across the globe, featuring breathtaking theatre performances from Argentina in sound and vision. The release will come in various formats: as a 2CD, a 2DVD and a Blu-Ray version.

“ACT I” is Tarja’s first solo live audio and video product in her rock outfit. The main content was filmed and recorded on two show nights this March 2012 in Rosario, Argentina, at the Teatro El Círculo. The video products include plenty of extras – video and photo material.

With the elaborate track listing and its extras, “ACT I” provides the full-fledged bill of fare to either Tarja fan. The track listing consists of Tarja’s greatest solo tracks, Nightwish classics as well as some cover versions, such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom Of The Opera” and marvellous Gary Moore’s “Over The Hills and Far Away” – or to make it short: a unique blend of music selection. The set up of these HD filmed concerts meant an incredible extra work and effort in the live production – with an impressive result, but also an emotional rollercoaster-ride. Says Turunen: “those two nights in Rosario were a huge emotional drive to me personally.” The artist herself admits, she “was many times ready to burst into tears.”

“ACT I”, as the title already suggests, is the vanguard in a sequence of live products at a yet to be determined point of time. Fans and media can actively follow Tarja at www.tarja-act1.com on the road to release day of “ACT I”.

While releasing “ACT I”, Tarja is already working on her next solo studio album. “ACT I” already features two brand new tracks by the Finnish Soprano: “Into The Sun” is the lead single for the live album, to be released up-front August 24th.
On the artist Tarja:

No other voice and artist influenced and basically created the female fronted symphonic metal genre as much as Tarja Turunen. A pioneer in Goth-and Symphonic Metal, the classically trained Finn rose to fame with the metal outfit Nightwish, whose face and voice she had been for 9 years. With a vocal range of a lyrical soprano, Turunen started her solo career in 2004. Releasing two very successful metal rock solo albums (2007 and 2010), awarded gold and platinum in multiple countries, Tarja Turunen has been constantly touring the world with her live band.

NIGHTWISH

10’TH of MARCH, 2012

ICE HALL, HELSINKI

Symphonic metal quintet Nightwish, the most successful Finnish band abroad at the moment, played a show in front of over 7000 people in Helsinki’s Old Ice Hall. The show was a part of the bands six day Finland tour which was a great hit when all shows were completely sold out. It seems that Nightwish is now having the time of their career although their future was at stake following former vocalist Tarja Turunen’s departure in 2005. Swedish vocalist, Anette Olzon, was chosen to replace Tarja in 2007 the band’s latest two albums DARK PASSION PLAY and IMAGINAERUM have received both critical and commercial success across the globe.

The Kindle Edition of the acclaimed ‘ONCE UPON A NIGHTWISH: The Official Biography 1996-2006′, by Mape Ollila, is now available in English language in all Kindle hardware and app formats via Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Italy, and Amazon Spain. Upcoming editions of the English language ebook formatted for Nook and Apple iBookstore will soon follow.

View the Amazon.com page, including a look inside and downloadable sample chapter, at this location:

In this remarkably revealing official biography, author Mape Ollila charts the rise of Nightwish from village student project to global stardom, based on unprecedented access not just to the members of Nightwish past and present; but also their families, their loyal and lewd crew, their peers, their critics, and countless other insiders from the Nightwish adventure. The book lays bare the creative firepower and personal demons of songwriter Tuomas Holopainen; the unique talents and traits of guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and bassist Marco Hietala; and the true reasons behind the 2005 departure of vocalist Tarja Turunen – in the band’s words and hers.

Along the way, the band struggles with religious protesters, fortune-tellers, naked crew members, health problems, shady promoters, out-of-control fans, and the growing pains of an ever-steeper rock star learning curve. Happily ever after or not, these unique Finnish personalities are brought to life in this detailed account of the early era of the Nightwish journey. For longtime fans and newcomers seeking the backstory of how Nightwish came to where they are today, this is rare public airing of the mysteries that exist…Once Upon a Nightwish.

“Essential for any diehard fan” -Revolver

“Ollila’s sense of band history and beyond-the-stage access elevate this book”-Library Journal

Once Upon a Nightwish is also available in high-quality physical edition at this location:

Radio Rock Finland premiered the anxiously-awaited new single ‘Storytime’ by Finnish symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH this week. Check out the track below:

Nightwish will release ‘Storytime’ on Friday, November 11th. The single will be available as a CD (digipak) and 10” MLP (gatefold) versions featuring the following tracks:

‘Storytime’ (Radio Edit)

‘Storytime’

‘Storytime’ (instrumental)

Nuclear Blast Germany have unveiled a number of formats for Nightwish’s upcoming album, Imaginaerum, and their ‘Storytime’ single as detailed below:

Imaginaerum Mail Order Edition: limited and numbered to 1000 copies, the boxset includes the double digipak, the one-track-single ‘Rest Calm’ in its demo version featuring Marco Hietala on vocals and the exclusive Imaginaerum mirror:

Imaginaerum Mail Order Edition

Imaginaerum Two-CD digi pack featuring instrumental version of the album as bonus CD

“Imaginarium”, the long-awaited new album from Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH, will be released before the end of the year via Nuclear Blast Records in Europe and Roadrunner Records in North America. A movie of the same name is currently in production and is expected to arrive in 2012.

More information about the “Imaginarium” album, including the CD’s complete track listing and details of the first single, will be made available in the coming weeks.

“Imaginarium” is one of the projects which recently received grants from the Finnish government institution called the Finnish Film Foundation. The movie, directed by Stobe Harju, about an old man on his deathbed who glimpses a childhood dream in which he refuses to grow old, and fights aging with his imagination, will get $575,000 toward its $3.7 million budget.

The Finnish Film Foundation grants support for professional Finnish film production. The Foundation’s goal is to promote high-quality, versatile and unique Finnish film. The support can be granted for feature-length, short and episodic fiction, documentary, animation and children’s films.

The production support is granted for the writing of a film script, development of a film project, the actual production of a film and for the marketing and distribution of the film in Finland. The Foundation also grants post-release support on the basis of a film’s total attendance.

NIGHTWISH will kick off the “Imaginarium” world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.

NIGHTWISH Signs New Deal With NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS

Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH have inked a new deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band’s new album, “Imaginarium”, will be released in December.

Commented NIGHTWISH keyboardist/mainman Tuomas Holopainen: “We are very happy to continue working with the Nuclear Blast family! Our collaboration started on a friendship basis and continues to do so.

“I was utterly happy and relieved to see they truly understood what ‘Imaginarium’ is all about, and we seem to share similar profound enthusiasm towards it.

“I feel privileged working with such people who, despite the infinite maze of business they must handle properly, still have a huge heart for music itself. ”

Added Andy Siry, head of A&R and label manager of Nuclear Blast: “We are very happy that NIGHTWISH and Nuclear Blast Records can continue as a team.

“NIGHTWISH became the biggest success of our label and everyone in the band, their management and crew also became trustful and close friends. For us, it is a pleasure to work with such highly gifted musicians and a genius like Tuomas Holopainen, as a songwriter and composer. We also thank King Foo Entertainment [NIGHTWISH’s management company] for their belief and the great relationship between all of us.

“We are looking forward to the next releases with the band, starting with the upcoming masterpiece, ‘Imaginarium’, which is another big step for this visionary band, which is simply outstanding and brilliant.”

NIGHTWISH recently spent time not only putting finishing touches to its new album, “Imaginarium”, but also planning a movie of the same name. If all goes well, the film will arrive at some point in 2012.

NIGHTWISH will kick off the “Imaginarium” world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.

Review and live pictures by Anders Sandvall

For many nights they had the wish to go back to the country of thousand lakes, which is famous for it’s vodka but also for its many great Heavy Metal bands!

Time to announce two very special performances of one of Finland’s finest on board 70000TONS OF METAL, The World’s Biggest Floating Heavy Metal Festival… a band that has sold millions of records and collected over 60 Gold and Platinum awards world-wide.

Sailors… please welcome NIGHTWISH!

Will this be 70000TONS OF METAL’s last visit to Finland this year? Time will tell… For now, they set sail in the Gulf of Finland with their course set West…

Make no mistake, 70000TONS OF METAL is not your grandma’s cruise. It’s also not one of the cruises that share the ship with regular cruise guests. This is an all Heavy Metal cruise! Can you imagine that? A whole luxury cruise ship full of metalheads? You can enjoy tons of onboard live shows on several in and outdoor stages from early in the morning until late at night, open-mic nights, Heavy Metal karaoke with members of the bands, bars that never close, again: bars that never close…, a fun-and-sun-filled day on the beautiful island of Grand Cayman and since there is no backstage area you will have the opportunity to mingle side-by-side with the artists in this incredibly fan-friendly scenario that has no comparison. It’s like everyone has a backstage pass!

So far 13 out of a total of 40 bands on board are known:

AMORPHIS

CORONER

ELUVEITIE

GRAVE DIGGER

IN EXTREMO

MOONSORROW

MY DYING BRIDE

NIGHTWISH

PESTILENCE

SAMAEL

STRATOVARIUS

THERION

TRISTANIA

70000TONS OF METAL will sail Monday, January 23, 2012 aboard the Royal Caribbean “Majesty of the Seas” from Miami FL to George Town, Cayman Islands and will not return you to the real world for four days until Friday, January 27, 2012.

Ticket prices start at US$666 plus US$289 taxes and fees per person and include all on-board entertainment, non-alcoholic and non-carbonated beverages, all meals at the dining rooms, most on-board restaurants and even 24 room service!

What are you waiting for? You might even need a vacation from this vacation when all is said and done! Check out http://www.70000tons.com/ for more information and book your cabin NOW!